/** * https://gist.github.com/samthor/64b114e4a4f539915a95b91ffd340acc */ (function() { var check = document.createElement('script'); if (!('noModule' in check) && 'onbeforeload' in check) { var = false; document.addEventListener('beforeload', function(e) { if (e.target === check) { = true; } else if (!e.target.hasAttribute('nomodule') || !) { return; } e.preventDefault(); }, true); check.type = 'module'; check.src = '.'; document.head.appendChild(check); check.remove(); } }());

Silk Road: How FBI closed in on suspect Ross Ulbricht

FBI

A lengthy investigation into internet communications led the FBI to their suspect

By Dave Lee
Technology reporter, BBC News

US authorities believe that 29-year-old Ross William Ulbricht, arrested on Wednesday, is Dread Pirate Roberts (DPR) - the of the notorious Silk Road online marketplace.

It was an underground website where people from all over the world were able to buy drugs.

In the months leading up to Mr Ulbricht's arrest, investigators undertook a painstaking process of piecing together the suspect's digital footprint, going back years into his history of communicating with others online.

The detail of how the FBI has built its case was outlined in a court complaint document published on Wednesday.

The search started with work from Agent-1, the codename given to the expert cited in the court documents, who undertook an "extensive search of the internet" that sifted through pages dating back to January 2011.

The trail began with a post made on a web forum where s discussed the use of magic mushrooms.

In a post titled "Anonymous market online">